Welcome To The Zoo
by Frankinscence
Summary: Have you ever been to the zoo? They created many, many mistakes but now you can visit the successes. In this place the animals can talk back when you wonder what they're thinking. They'll do anything, say anything, they're ordered to. In this place the animals aren't quite animal. You could see yourself in their place if you had a couple more parts. Welcome to the Zoo.
1. The Growl Of The Wolves

**A/N: New story here. Warnings include: foul language, mild sexual situations, violence, drug usage, experimentation on humans, slight gore, drug induced rages, and long term abuse. **

**I also want to point out that this will be a much more serious story compared to the others you guys have seen from me. There will be a bit of romance but that isn't the focus in the least. This story is much more about the characters and the situation. You'll see what I mean. **

**Pairings: Den/Nor with hints of prucan, hongice, gerita, spamano, sufin, ameripan, ect but again these pairings really aren't relevant to the story as it' s not a romance.**

Have you ever been to the zoo? Seen all the animals and wondered what they were thinking? In this zoo, there's something different. Even though of all of the employees tried to claim it was something normal. And in a way, it was.

In this place the animals can talk back when you wonder what they're thinking. They'll tell you anything they're ordered to, even if it's a lie. In this place the animals aren't quite animal. You could see yourself in their place if you had a couple of their parts.

These animals had the mannerisms of wild beasts, locked in a cage. But if you had put a hat on a few of them, a long coat, a skirt, you'd mistake them for human. You'd believe that they were just unsociable.

These places started as labs, research into the splicing of genes and inserting certain DNA to change the attributes of humans. They created many, many mistakes. But eventually, after nearly forty years of trial and error, the labs were able to create a stable creature. And they didn't stop. They started making more and more, trying out new animals to test.

They managed to make over three hundred types of successful creations. But what to do with them? The scientists couldn't risk having these creations out in the world, the risk of foul play was just too high.

So the scientists, to further explore their experiments, and to control how it all played out, they had their creations declared as what they were. Less than human.

And that was when the Zoo came into being. The very first Zoo was in The United States. Somewhere in Virginia. The next one was in France, right outside of Paris, then near London, one in Budapest, Quebec, Tokyo, Shanghai, the works. Every country had multiple Zoos. They were very popular with the human populace.

For just over thirty years these zoos have been running efficiently with only a few incidents.

One of which was the third attempt at escape. A pack of wolves had almost made it out but one had been caught trying to save another dog. When the other five went back to retrieve him, they were caught as well.

As punishment for their actions, they would put them in cages with their 'prey'. Make them try to resist the kill, see the effect of new drugs and watch the results of their handiwork.

Welcome to the Zoo.

One of the pack, the alpha, was tossed into the cage with a rabbit. "You bastards! Immoral fuckers!" The wolf snarled at his handlers, thrashing in their hold as they pushed him in, far enough back that they could slam the door shut and lock it down. The wolf slammed into the door, throwing his fists into the cold metal.

They were already gone though. Dealing with the temper of this wolf in particular was not unfamiliar.

The wolf sank to the floor, still growling but contained, for now.

"What are you doing in here?" On the other side of the room stood the rabbit, obviously surprised at and wary of the new addition. Now this rabbit was like most white rabbits, pale, light haired, skinny (though they all were a bit skinny here), long floppy ears, quiet, pretty.

The wolf gave the bunny a once over, immediately rejecting the idea that he was a threat. "Punishment."

"For you or for me?"

"Me."

The rabbit nodded once, staying as far away from the wolf as possible. When he took the moment to examine the man who had started pacing, he noticed that the wolf was actually something to look at. Tall, gravity defying hair, but the fur on his tail and ears was near gold as opposed to the honey color of his hair, he was very fit, the muscles beneath the plain scrub like clothes. For most in the Zoo, the clothes didn't fit, they were too large, like on the rabbit, or raggedy like on the wolf.

The wolf kept pacing and it started to annoy the other in the viewing room. "Stop that."

He snarled at the door. "They'll come again. They'll come and I'll rip them to shreds!"

The bunny shook his head. "There's nothing you can do and you know it. We all know it." Anyone who ever lived in a Zoo knew that there was a breaking point. A point in which there's just no more fight left in you. This rabbit had gone past that point.

The wolf spun around to face the other, glaring. "_I_ haven't given up yet! Even if you have!"

"You're an idiot."

"I'm an idiot because I hope?!" He took a few steps towards the little blonde. "I'm not going to stop fighting for my freedom!"

The Bunny sighed softly. "How long have you been here?"

That put the wolf off, distracting him. "This prison? Seven years. Before that I was down in the south."

"Then you should know better."

The wolf scoffed at his dismissal and started pacing again. "Hopeless my ass." He muttered to himself.

"You're annoying."

The wolf's head swiveled towards him once more. "Watch yourself _Bunny_."

The boy glared back at the predator. "My name is not 'Bunny'. It's _Nikolas_ and I shouldn't have to remind you that this is my cage."

"Doesn't change the fact that they put me here for a reason." Nikolas sighed and looked away. "You know why that is?"

The rabbit nodded. "Because you're part wolf, which makes me your prey." The wolf muttered something about education and Nikolas's head snapped back up. "I'm a lot smarter than you think."

The taller blonde shrugged. "You must have done something that pissed them off too or they wouldn't have tossed me in." He looked the bunny over carefully, seeing the lack of bruises. "Or maybe they just want you marked up."

Nikolas hesitated, knowing the power of a wolf. "You won't do anything to me."

The blonde nodded a couple times, agreeing with Nik, for the most part. "While under control no."

Another hesitation, but Nikolas was confident enough. "I'm still not worried." He paused a little, he hated the doubt that this wolf gave him. "The only thing you are is a fool." A growl ripped through the air but it was ignored by the rabbit. Nikolas nearly smacked him when the man started pacing around the cell again. "Doing that won't help anything."

"It makes me feel better."

"Then do it out of my line of vision."

"Then _you_ move."

"My cage. My rules." The wolf growled at him more. "Stop it or move."

"Make. Me."

Nikolas went and stood in front of him, blocking his path. "Move." For a bunny he really wasn't as timid as he seemed. Even though it would probably serve him better in the long run.

"_Make me."_ Nikolas put his hands on the wolf's chest and pushed. The wolf moved back a step then grabbed the bunny by the front of the shirt and slammed him against the nearest wall. "Let me give you this warning now and learn it well. Don't. Mess. With. Me. Maybe when I'm in a good mood but right now, while I'm already pissed, you should watch yourself little rabbit." Nik struggled against the rocklike hold but was unable to escape. "Do you. _Understand_?"

Nikolas looked him dead in the eye. "Fine." And he was dropped. "The least they could've done is put you somewhere else... I haven't done anything." His voice was soft as the taller male backed away, going to sit back against the opposite wall.

"Or have you? Think hard rabbit. Think back." The long tail of the wolf curled around his own ankles, keeping himself warm in the cooled cell.

"My _name_ is Nikolas. And I've only ever tried something once, but that was a long time ago, when I got here. They already punished me for that." He shook his head a little, thinking back to the incident with his brother. "I know they have."

"Apparently not. Or they just want to see you hurt." The wolf could see how either would work out.

"Which is possible." Silence from the other side of the room. "They won't get their wish though."

The blonde on the floor scoffed. "Weren't you the one saying that they always do?"

"They will if they use other methods. If you were going to seriously hurt me, you would have done it already."

The wolf gave him a look. "Do you realize how hard it is to hold back?" Nikolas could see the wolf's clenched fists, his teeth were on edge, the very way he sat was rigid, stiff, everything but relaxed.

"Why would you hold back? I shouldn't mean anything to you."

The wolf's fists got tighter. "Instincts. To either claim or kill." Nikolas nodded. "And I'm sure you don't want either."

"I'm just surprised. I would have figured you would have done something. You're agitated enough for it and you know they will make it worse for us if whatever they want doesn't happen."

The wolf took a deep breath, knowing what was gonna happen. "I'm going to sleep." He hoped it would give his body time to process whatever they had given him before they threw him into the two part room that the rabbit lived in.

He gave one last look around the cell, nicer than his last. It had a small room with a cot in it just off to the side, all white walls, as was the room wolf was in, there was carpet on the floor, unlike the last cell he was in. and as usual one whole wall was made of a clear substance that was harder than the others. It was open so that when the humans came through, they could see all the 'animals'.

The wolf took another glance but quickly closed his eyes, forcing himself into a deep sleep.

**A/N: So what do you think? Ready for the craziness that will ensue in this story. Lots of violence, lots of cruelty. It's not very pleasant of a story. **


	2. The Chirp Of The Birds

**A/N: Wow! Thank you guys so much! I hope that I keep your attention and that you continue to like this story! Thank you to: ****Silverfang509, Emil Steilson, sweetfirehoney,****thenordic5forever96, LicoriceTeaWithNoButter, Giraffe the Otaku, SilverDawn1313, WolfTooth, Solar Flare of Saturn, and leafywarrior.**

The only way that you could tell when morning came was the natural light filtering in from the uncovered walkways. When the wolf woke his head was finally clear, and with that came the guilt from the night before. He slowly stood, stretching out all his muscles then made his way into the semi-private room that the bunny was sleeping in.

"Nikolas?" The wolf's hand came down on his shoulder carefully. Nikolas's eyes flew open and he quickly pulled away, not recognizing the look in the blue eyes in front of him. "Sorry... I- sorry." The wolf held up his hands. "I just wanted to apologize for last night."

Nikolas's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You want to apologize."

The wolf nodded. "They hopped me up on some kind of aggressor. I'm not usually like that." He hated being out of control and although Nikolas was unlikely to have ever experienced those certain drugs but he hoped that the bunny would understand.

"What are you planning?" Apparently not.

"Huh?"

"I don't believe what you're saying. I won't fall for any tricks."

The taller blonde leaned away more. "What do you mean? I'm not… I'm sorry."

Nikolas backed away further, shaking his head. "You've said that, but you didn't really do much."

"I was a jerk."

Nikolas stood slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements around this different version of the wolf. "And you're too nice now." The wolf seemed confused as to why that would be bad. "I just don't trust you. It's better not to trust anyone here."

"I can understand that." The tall blonde moved back to the other room, followed by the other who sat by the window looking for something. "Do you have any family here?"

Nikolas bristled, very protective of the only family he had in the facility. "Why?"

"Curiosity. I don't have any family really. Just the birth mother. But I don't know her." No one knew their birth mother. It was to make sure the surrogate moms didn't get attached to the babies. The scientists would just create a breeding program within the zoos but one of the first things they learned was that due to the way they created the animals, the females were sterile. An accident but a happy one for every single one of those females. Though, most of the 'animals' were male.

"I don't know mine either."

"How long have you been here?"

"Ten years." Ten very _long_ years.

"Before this where were you?"

"A small zoo and lab in the north." The wolf nodded, leaning against the wall across from Nikolas. "It was better there."

"How so?" The wolf hadn't had been to any zoo or lab that was any better than where they were now. But he had been to some pretty horrible ones so it wasn't much of an accomplishment.

"The food wasn't as bad and there was more of it, I had an actual bed of sorts and I was able to be with my brother." Another nod from the standing man. "My brother is all I want to have here."

"What is he?" It didn't matter what you were, the ones who shared your DNA could be anything.

"Puffin."

The wolf chuckled softly, having known a few birds in his time. "Bird people are fun." Nikolas was still staring out the glass wall, eyes searching through the other rooms, just trying to see as much as he could through the windows of other animals. "Is he over there?"

The bunny's form stiffened again. "Maybe."

"You can calm down. I'm not gonna be able to do anything to him from here. Nor would I want to. Birds taste gross."

Nikolas sighed softly, knowing that even if his brother was there he could never protect him from the wolf if he tried anything. "I haven't seen him since we got here. I tried to get him out the same day and they caught me and separated us." They used to have rooms across the walkway from each other. That had been nice. "I wish they would tell me honestly how he's doing."

The wolf shrugged a little, knowing the worry he would suffer through if he suspected that his pack were being abused more than the usual. When it came to the usual he didn't let himself worry, his men were strong. They could take it. "Well I was dragged through a lot of places to get to your cage. What did he look like? Maybe I saw him."

Nik was certainly uncertain about telling the wolf but was to desperate to refuse. "White hair and shorter than me with black wings on his back."

The wolf tapped his chin thoughtfully, thinking through the haze that his mind had been in at the time, searching his memories and coming upon the large aviary, seeing the gathered birds near the window wall. One of them stood out, a boy, pretty young, black wings barely covering his nearly white arms, he had some impressive eyes. "I think I saw him. Purplish eyes?" Purple eyes were only developing in birds and bears but the scientists were hopeful to start getting them in cats and foxes soon.

Nikolas sat up a little straighter, finally facing the wolf again. "Yes." He was obviously hopeful.

"He's as good as anyone in this place. Scared, just above malnourished, sad." So not bad. Nik was sure that they were clipping the boy's wings but the other birds could help him there. "When is your next showing? My section was every three days."

"Tomorrow." Showings were the worst part of the wolf's week, the regular humans would be brought through on tours and he would be forced to play the part of the 'wildman'. Or the predator. For Nikolas it was petting and showing off how 'cute' he was.

"How often?"

"It's usually every two days, but with you here I don't know." The wolf grimaced a bit, showing off his sharp canines. "I doubt it will be a normal showing tomorrow."

"What do you think they'll do?"

"Try to egg you on to attack me." The wolf pondered how they could get him to do that. Aside from the usual method. "They'll want a show." The tall blonde decided to sit down, not feeling his usual energy. "Back me into that corner," Nikolas said, pointing to the back of the room. "That should be far enough that you can pretend to attack me there without anyone being able to see the hits landing."

The wolf's eyebrows raised in surprise, not expecting a plan to help him from the bunny. "Good idea. You'll have to act hurt though."

Nikolas nodded watching as the handler for their section opened the flap to push food into the room. The handler watched the wolf wary, but still smug. "Good morning buddy."

The wolf growled in his direction, eyes hard but not blazing, as they had the night before. He had control this time. The man just laughed as he left, the hair on the back of the wolf's neck rising like hackles.

The bunny sighed and retrieved the trays, pushing the one that had meat on it towards the other man. He scooted over so he could join Nikolas, taking a bite of his little loaf of bread. Nikolas sighed as he picked up a carrot. "They gave me less than normal."

The man tore his loaf in half and offered the non-bitten half to his roommate. "Here." The bunny shook his head at it but he was given a look. "Take it. I'm not hungry."

The little blonde hesitated a moment longer but the wolf waggled it at him and he gingerly took the half, grateful. "Thank you." It wasn't like anyone was well fed around here, making the gesture even more surprising. This wolf kept surprising Nikolas and he didn't like it.

The wolf smiled a little. "You're welcome." They ate in silence, a silence that was oddly comfortable. Until they pushed the trays away, neither spoke a word. "I hope they only doped the meat today."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did more than that though."

The wolf could only guess. "I wonder what they did this time."

Nikolas leaned back on the window, tucking his feet beneath himself. "I wish I knew. They experiment often enough." It would be easier to handle if they only knew what they were being put on. When they got transferred to Zoos everyone was told that they would stop being experimented on in this way, it wasn't long until they learned better.

"Yeah. Generally they use caffeine, aggressors, or depressants. At least on me."

Nikolas expected that. The wolf was a predator. "I've had the same, but not aggressors as often."

The taller shrugged, he hadn't expected that Nikolas would ever have anything that provoked negative emotions within him. "Probably because of your breed. It's not amusing when a bunny is mad."

"They don't take me seriously when I'm angry anyways." Nikolas grimaced a little, seeing as they would probably be sharing these kinds of stories for a while, he could continue. "It's more amusing to drug me enough to get me in a dress for their...special visitors."

The wolf got more angry at that. "They do _what_ to you?" His voice was a long growl. "And they call us immoral beings."

Nikolas was silent for a while, seeing the man get more and more angry. "I've had worse. I rather put up with this."

The wolf shook his head, glaring at the floor, but he did seem to calm a little, knowing there was nothing he could do. "When did the humiliation start?"

"Three or four years after I got here."

"How old were you?"

"Between thirteen and fourteen." None of the 'animals' were really sure of what age they were. Maybe the scientists knew but they never shared that information.

The wolf sighed irritatedly. "Sounds about right. Puberty." Nikolas nodded a little. "That's when they transferred me."

"How old were you?"

"Fourteen." Or so he guessed. The wolf looked the bunny over carefully. "So you're nineteen?"

"Yes."

"Do you get any interaction with others?"

Nikolas crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing at his arm to warm it. "Once or twice a month except during holidays." It was Nik's turn to ask more personal questions now. "How many times have they tried to kill you off?"

"At least five or six." It didn't even seem to bother the taller one. "Then I became alpha and it became a lot more risky."

The rabbit frowned a little. "Unfortunately, they're smart enough to recognize that. They've only tried twice with me if you don't count this incident."

"Why?" The canine couldn't think of why anyone would want the rabbit dead.

"I don't know why they've tried, I bring more business alive than dead." The wolf nodded a few times, lying on his back, bored. "Have you been around anyone besides those in your pack?"

"Not really."

"Makes sense."

At the same time, both males' ears flicked towards the sound of a group of humans nearby. "I make enough loyal followers as is. They don't want me making more."

Nikolas moved away from the wolf as they heard a crowd coming closer. The wolf got up and walked to the back of the room, knowing what was going on.

A guide came into view with half a dozen regular humans, all curious, cameras in hand. "And here is our rabbit. If you've been here before, you will notice the recent addition of his predator, the wolf." The guide was smiling bright, acting like everything was fine. Said wolf's ears pulled back as he growled at the crowd. "Scary right? Proof of how much an animal he really is."

"Immoral son of a bitch." Another rough noise ripped from his throat.

"Excuse me ladies and gentlemen. He seems to have a temper today, but we shall remedy that later." The guide gave the alpha a look and rolled his eyes at the display. "If you 'play nicely' with your little friend though then I think we can reconsider." A glare was trying to make holes appear in the guide. "You'll both have to face consequences for your actions either way. You have an opportunity to control the damages."

A pause. "Such as?"

"Just play your part as predator and you'll get out of this without injuries. "

"Rest assured your little moneymaker shall play his part. He has done nothing against you. I will not give up so easily."

"We shall see." He turned his and the crowd's focus to Nikolas. "And how are you today rabbit?"

The bunny's fists clenched, not wanting to be involved. "Fine."

"That's always good to hear. I'm sure it's frightening having to be in a space with your predator." The guide turned to the crowd, smiling bright. "Does anyone want to comfort the poor rabbit?"

After a short session of petting from the crowd through a special hole in the cage the wolf pulled Nikolas back and away from the greasy fingers of the men and women gathered. "It seems he's be protective of his resources for now so why don't we move on the next cage."

They were both silent, Nikolas praying that they didn't do anything to him for the wolf's mistakes.

…

…

"My name is Mathias by the way."

**A/N: And finally I can stop using the phrase 'the wolf'! I can finally use his name! Let me know what you think about this chapter!**


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